Willie Brown aide too sharp to be caught in FBI sting

Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, during a commissioner swearing in ceremony at City Hall, on Thursday August 30, 2012, in San Francisco, Calif.

Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, during a commissioner swearing in ceremony at City Hall, on Thursday August 30, 2012, in San Francisco, Calif.

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle

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Rose Pak and Mayor Ed Lee celebrate the Fourth of July during the mayor's party at the SF Maritime Museum.

Rose Pak and Mayor Ed Lee celebrate the Fourth of July during the mayor's party at the SF Maritime Museum.

Photo: Catherine Bigelow

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In this image provided by Jen Siska, Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow, is seen posing for a portrait in San Francisco in July 2007.

In this image provided by Jen Siska, Raymond "Shrimp Boy" Chow, is seen posing for a portrait in San Francisco in July 2007.

Photo: Jen Siska, Associated Press

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On Sixth Street, friends and acquaintances stopped to pay their respects Wednesday July 23, 2014. Two men were killed Tuesday near the corner of Sixth and Mission Streets in San Francisco, Calif. Marc-Anthony Salumbides and Daniel Beltran were killed near the Henry Hotel. less

On Sixth Street, friends and acquaintances stopped to pay their respects Wednesday July 23, 2014. Two men were killed Tuesday near the corner of Sixth and Mission Streets in San Francisco, Calif. Marc-Anthony ... more

Photo: Brant Ward, San Francisco Chronicle

Willie Brown aide too sharp to be caught in FBI sting

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(07-28) 09:15 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- The revelation in the Matier and Ross column that the FBI sting operation made $20,ooo in phony contributions to Ed Lee's 2011 mayoral campaign hit close to home.

They did the same thing to me when I was Assembly speaker.

In my case, an undercover FBI agent approached one of my aides with a $2,000 contribution - all in crisp $100 bills.

The aide, Karen Sonoda, had no idea the guy was an FBI agent - he was posing as an economic development man. But she did know the law, and told him, "You can't make a contribution that way."

She walked him across the street to a bank and had him take out a cashier's check, and fill it out with his name and address.

When the operation was revealed a few months later and a couple of legislative staffers were convicted, she saw the undercover agent's fake name in the news coverage.

Mortified, she came to me and said, "I took a contribution from these people and I reported it under what was a fake name. I'll return the check and resign."

I was both stunned and angry - not at her, but at the FBI.

"First off, you are not resigning," I said. "But you are going to amend the filing report, and where it lists the source of the funds, I want you to write 'FBI' in big, bold letters."

And I kept the money.

I got a real eye-opener the other day at Mercy Housing in the Tenderloin, where I speak as part of a summer program for kids.

I don't lecture - I just meet with the kids and see if anyone has any questions.

When I was there last week, a 12-year-old's hand immediately shot up: "How much do you get paid?'

I danced around the answer for a minute or two. Then a second voice piped up.

"What do you know about the shooting last night? How about the one today?"

"No," I said.

"Yeah, just down the street outside the Henry. The first one was between two guys," the boy said.

"Then when they were cleaning up, two of the guy's friends showed up, A couple of them got into an argument. The dead man's friend and one of the two of them shoots him, so now they got two dead."

I was taken a bit aback - both by the news of the shootings outside the Henry Hotel near Sixth and Mission, and by the fact that the 8-year-old delivering the news did not seem disturbed that two people had been killed just a couple of blocks away.

These kids live in the Tenderloin and this is their reality. They have no parks other than Boeddeker Park, and they don't go up there.

The housing complexes they live in all have courtyards. That's their park, with security guards at the gates.

For all our talk about gun control and crime prevention, this is still their reality.

A reality, sad to say, that we grown-ups are still creating.

President Obama, the next time you drop in to the Bay Area to pick up a stack of checks, you could at least stop by and say "hello."

Maybe talk at a school, have dinner at a local restaurant, take in a ballgame or a round of golf.

Bill Clinton did it all the time. His visits to the Slanted Door back when it was a storefront in the Mission helped make that restaurant the worldwide success it is today.

You couldn't keep Clinton away from people. He had a habit of coming into events through the kitchen, which used to irritate the hell out of his big-donor hosts, because he would spend 45 minutes talking to the cooks and staff.

Movie time: "Sex Tape," with Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel. The story line is about a married couple who make a sex tape to spice up their fading relationship. The tape gets out to their friends, and they spend the rest of the movie trying to make sure no one sees it.

Not a great movie, but a fun one.

"Boyhood." Two hours and 45 minutes of a boy growing up. The kick is the movie actually took 12 years to film, using the same actors.

It's an interesting concept and an interesting story, but in the end it is really more like a documentary.

A cabbie gave me some interesting insights into the city's housing crunch.

His wife works in a bank, and they have a combined income of about $100,000 a year (which means they take home $60,000, after taxes). They pay $1,800 a month in rent and are getting Ellis Acted out of their apartment.

Since they make more than $75,000, they don't qualify for "affordable housing."

The only thing they've been able to find to match their current apartment costs $3,000 a month, which would leave them with about $2,000 a month for everything else.